I wish to advise the House of the following matters in respect of which notice has been given under Standing Order 20 and the name of the Member in each case: (1) Deputy Theresa Ahearn — the serious staff shortage in the Farm Development Office, Clonmel, County Tipperary, resulting in unacceptable delays in the processing of grant application which, if not addressed, will cause farmers not to qualify for farm development grants: (2) Deputy O'Rourke — the need to give priority attention to the Silverlea plant in County Westmeath to enable it continue operating so as to safeguard employment; (3) Deputy O'Donoghue — the need to amend the Punishment of Incest Act, 1908, in view of the High Court judgment on 1 February 1994, that all incest trials must be held in total secrecy in the future; (4) Deputy Connaughton — the cost to national schools of television licences, which is prohibitive and totally unnecessary, for television which are used solely and exclusively for showing educational videos within the school; (5) Deputy Kathleen Lynch — the 60 per cent increase between 1993 and 1994 in the number of child abuse cases reported to the Southern Health Board; (6) Deputy Eric Byrne — the need for comprehensive sentencing guidelines in view of current anomalies whereby a custodial sentence may be imposed for petty theft, while those committing offences against the person such as rape may receive a suspended sentence; (7) Deputy Kenneally — the need for a second river crossing over the River Suir in Waterford city and the associated roads network; (8) Deputy McGrath — the need to ensure that the 170 jobs at the Silverlea plant in Athlone, County Westmeath and the 50 jobs at the Silverlea plant in Athy, County Kildare, are saved in view of the fact that the company is now in receivership; (9) Deputy Penrose — the need for action to ensure that the 170 jobs at the Athlone plant and the 50 jobs at the Athy plant of the Silverlea company, now in receivership, are saved in view of the economic importance of these jobs for the respective areas; (10) Deputy Finucane — the need to provide funding for the reconstruction of Bellyagran primary school, County Limerick; (11) Deputy Dukes — the threatened closure of the Silverlea clothing company; (12) Deputy Batt O'Keeffe — the need to provide additional funding for emergency services in Cork University Hospital given that costs to the health board have exceeded £250,000 and are continuing to escalate with repercussions for the board's budgetary provision.
The matters raised by Deputies Kathleen Lynch, Batt O'Keeffe, O'Rourke and McGrath have been selected for discussion:.